Less than three months after U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin and her colleagues launched an investigation into the four major American manufacturers of inhalers, three of the companies have relented, making commitments to cap costs for their inhalers at $35 for patients who now pay much more.
25 million Americans have asthma and 16 million Americans have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), meaning over 40 million Americans rely on inhalers to breathe.
Inhalers have been available since the 1950s, and most of the drugs they use have been on the market for more than 25 years.
According to a statement from the Wisconsin Senator’s office, inhaler manufacturers sell the exact same products at a much lower costs in other countries. One of AstraZeneca’s inhalers, Breztri Aerosphere, costs $645 in the U.S.—but just $49 in the UK. Inhalers made by Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, and Teva have similar disparities.
Baldwin and her Democratic colleagues—New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders—pressured the companies to lower their prices by writing letters to GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, Teva, and AstraZeneca requesting a variety of documents that show why such higher prices are charged in America compared to Europe.
As a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Baldwin recently announced that as a result of the letters they had secured commitments from three of the four to lower the out-of-pocket costs of inhalers to a fixed $35.00 rate.
“For the millions of Americans who rely on inhalers to breathe, this news is a major step in the right direction as we work to lower costs and hold big drug companies accountable,” said Senator Baldwin.
A full list of the inhalers and associated drugs can be viewed here.
It’s the second time in the last year that pharmaceutical companies were forced to provide reasonable prices—after the cost of insulin was similarly capped successfully at $35 per month thanks to Congressional actions led by the White House.
They only blocked the bill because the package didn’t include aid to Ukraine, it’s a small step but it’s still a step.
In the meantime, we need to keep sharing, posting, and calling or messaging our reps. Even just talking about it with people goes a long way to spreading the word of what Israel is doing.
Let’s keep it up. We won’t stop until Palestine is free 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
"There's fifty senetors right now who refuse to vote on HR-8, which is a background check rule that the house passed a couple of years ago, it's been sitting there for two years. And there is a reason they won't vote on it:
To hold onto power."
Steve Kerr speech following school shooting in Uvalde, Texas leaving 19 children and 2 teachers dead.
thoughts on the us call for immediate ceasefire through the UNSC (blocked by russia and china), or more generally ramifications of chuck schumer's call for early israeli elections?
Saying Russia and China 'blocked' a call for a ceasefire is both inaccurate and dishonest. Please watch this video below for a full, transparent breakdown of what actually happened:
Arnaud also addressed this:
This also just doesn't end at a ceasefire, but with an end to Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine. A vast majority of Israeli's also still approve of IOF's war crimes -many have already went to block humanitarian trucks and are on SNS everywhere spouting genocidal rhetoric/are in alignment with the zionist settler-colonial agenda. So no matter who they 'vote for' if it is changed to later this year or sometime before 2026, the genocide will continue without their entire government and military being held accountable.
So, no matter who is in power -this is will always remain a fact: Israel is a terrorist state that is responsible for mass ethnically cleansing Palestinian people, and they must be stopped.